たばこの気持ち

別に川で泳ぐわけではないけれど、桜木町で信号待ちをしているときに、左手に葉っぱが目に入り、その若葉をちぎりとって、手で丸め唾液を含ませ手作りの耳栓を作りました

その耳栓を右耳に、ぐりぐりと詰めてみました

それはたしかに耳栓でした

この感触は、私の小学6年生の頃だから、おおよそ55年ぶり、福島県東白川郡塙町の遠き記憶がよみがえっできました

I wasn't swimming in the river, but while waiting at a traffic light in Sakuragi-cho, I saw a leaf on my left hand side. I tore off a young leaf, rolled it up in my hand, and made homemade earplugs with saliva.

I put the earplug in my right ear and stuffed it in!

It was indeed an earplug!

It had been about 55 years since I was in the sixth grade of elementary school, and the feeling brought back distant memories of Hanawa Town, Higashishirakawa County, Fukushima Prefecture.